Self-threading shuttle.



WALTER LABONT, OF CHIC'OPEE, MASSACHUSETTS.

SELF-THREADING SHUTTLE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Jan. 9, 1912.

Application led March 22, 1911. Serial No. 616,263.

To all whom 'it may concern:

Be it known that I, WALTER LABONT, a British subject, and resident of Chicopee, in the count-y of Hampden and State of Massachusetts, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Self-Threading Shuttles, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description.

This invention relates to the parts comprised in and pertaining to an eye member for a self threading shuttle for looms.

The object of this invention is to so construct an eye member for a self threading shuttle and combine the same in a recess in the shuttle therefor, that it may be easily inserted, reliably held in place and instantly and easily removed when replacement at 1nfrequentintervals is necessary.

A further object is to provide an eye mem-` ber that shall be simple, capable of being quickly, easily, and always with certainty threaded, and of such construction that it will not cause the breakage of the thread 0r allow it to become freed from its engagement through the eye member.

The invention is described in conjunction with the accompanying drawings and is set forth in the claims.

In the drawings Figure l is a plan view of the end portion of the self threading shuttle in which the improved eye member is provided. Fig. 2 is a side elevation of the same. Fig. 3 is a horizontal sectional view taken on line 3-3, Fig. '2.' Fig. 4 is a sectional view taken on the line 4-4, Fig. l, as seen in the direction'of the arrow. Fig. 5 is an enlarged perspective view of the eye member. Fig. 6 is a vertical' section of the eye member taken on line 6 6, Fig. 4. Fig. 7 is also a sectional view of the eye member taken on line 7-7, Fig. 4, especially showing the overhanging lip which constitutes an important feature of my invention. Fig. 8 is a perspective view showing the eye niember as havingv a slightly changed feature 0f construction to be hereinafter pointed' out.

A represents the shuttle body having the transverse hole a to receive the eye member D therein.

B represents the bobbin with the thread thereon, held 'on a spindle, which extends longitudinally as usual, in the chamber provided therefor in the shuttle body. The said shuttle body has the usual feed slots or kerfs b and d which serve to guide the thread to the eye member in the operation of threadt ing the same.

The eve member may be held in' place by either of the methods shown in the drawings. that is, referring to Fig. 5, the eye member head g is externally threaded, while in the Fig. 8 the head is shown .peripherally smooth and having a small upstanding rib thereon, the' so formed member to be forced into the transverse slot a in the body and held firmly and against rotative displacement by said rib. The latter method is considered the better one because of of construction and operation. As shown in Fig. 8, in the end of the solid metallic head there is a small aperture p for the purpose of allowing for the insertion of a pointed instrument therein to force the eye member into the proper aperture in the shuttle case, and to prevent the instrument so used from slipping off from the convex or crowning outer end of the head at theend of the shank.

Extending from the head g of the eye member D, is a hollow cylindrical shank. of smaller diameter than the head, having cut longitudinally therein a slot h commencing from near the head g, andhaving its open end terminating at the end of the shank which is opposite the head. On the other side ofthe hollow. shank about opposite said longitudinal slot h an eye z' is formed which is connected with the slot h by means of a narrow transversal recess 0 to'allow the thread to slide easily into place in the eye member, the corner where the connecting recesso and the slot h meet is preferably out off at an angle, as shown at o in Fig. 8. forming a widened opening fw. The shank has integrally formed therewith or attached thereto a lip y' which is arranged transversely of' and covers an inner portion of the slot 0, and also overhangs with slight separation from the portion of the. shank beyond 'the'slot 0 in the' direction of the head. The 'end of thisv overhanging lip j terminates at a slight distance from the shoulder n so that a peripheral partially encircling channel m is produced which extends from the slot 7L atone side of the tubular eyemember to the thread receiving eye z' at the other side. vThe lapping piece is so arranged as to form a lip overlying the part of the shank between the shoulder n and the slot o so that a slot is formed simplicity y from' the shoulder n to the said slot for the passage of the thread therethrough.

The operation of the device is as follows :-The eye member D is adjusted in the aperture a in the shuttle body therefor, so that the peripheral channel@ next to the shoulder n lies coincident with the rear lower portion of the slot b. The thread being unwound from the bobbin B, will pass into the slot b and thence into the horizontal Vslot d which is connected with. slot L; As the thread is drawn tight an intermediate portion thereof will pass into the peripheral channel adjacent the shoulder n of the eye member and also into the longitudinal slot L at or near its rear end, a portion of the thread in order to vreach the slot t necessarily having to be drawn beneath the lip y', and into the slot h by way of the recess 0, and in the action of bringing the thread to such disposition the shoulder n serves to carry the rear portion of the thread, that is the portion toward, and coming from the bobbin into the guide eye z' to which the slightly separated surfaces of the shoulder n and the end of the lip j are directed. And it will be apparent that the thread when drawn from the bobbin and carried in an oblique downward direction in the kerf like cut Z) and horizontally in the intersecting kerf like cut d will by the guiding action of the parts be so threaded through the eye member that its course throughout the operation of the shuttle in the loom will be from the bobbin directly through the eye z' and through the tubular shank of the eye member out of its open end which is opposite to its head portion by which it has its engagement in the body Vof the shuttle. In this condition the thread slides freely without possibility of breaking, and owing to the tortuous passage traversed in the operation of threading the eye member there is no chance of the thread becoming disengaged therefrom. In this connection itwill be stated that shuttle eye members very much resembling the one here illustrated have been employed in looms but in which the slot overhanging lip j has been absent, and in which there was no inclined formation-such as shown at c in Fig. 8; and that in use the bobbin thread, many times in a day, especially on certain line numbers of thread employed, would on the slackening after theshoots, fall or lie in the kerfs or saw cuts and d of the shuttle body with the result that the thread would then withdraw from the threading eye and be entirely free of the substantially tubular eye member; but bythe provision of the lip j it -will be seen that should the thread fall or be thrown into the kerfs h, CZ, and then draft be brought on the thread so that Vit might become disengaged from the eye member, it would not only have to lie coincident Vwith the length of the under slot L but to be uninterrupted and unimpeded in its course through the slot 0 substantially transversely eXtendy therefore, be said that the eye member made as described with the exception of being devoid of the lip j fails of certainty against unthreading, while made and used with said lip unthreading under running conditions becomes possible. And while the forming Vof the edge 'v of the lip inclined forwardly and toward the slot, h, does not impair the efficiency of the lip in its function of preventing 'disengagement or unthreading of the thread, it greatly facilitates the threading action.

It may be mentioned that while in the form of the device represented in Fig. 5 the salient portion or corner t will not usually be effective to cause any impediment to the threading action it has been found much preferable and adding to the certainty of the self threading of the shuttle to have such corner abated and the edge, as represented at v in Fig. 8, made inclined.

I claim l. A shuttle body having an aperture in the side thereof to receive an eye member, and having the angularly related and intersecting thread guiding kerf-like slots communicating with said aperture, an eye member fitted in said aperture comprising a tubular shank having a longitudinal endwise opening slot along vone side of its wall and having a substantially transverse recess connecting with said longitudinal slot and terminating in an eye opposite the slot, and said shank having a lip, provided as a part thereof, and in separation from the wall thereof, adjacent the transverse slot, and overlying and extending-therebeyond.

. 2. An eye member for a` self threading shuttle comprising a tubular shank having a longitudinal slot therein, and having a substantially transverse recess connecting with said longitudinal slot and terminating in an eye opposite thereto, and said shank having a lip provided as a part thereof, and in separation from the wall thereof,` adjacent the transverse slot7 and overlyingvand eX- Y tending therebeyond. n

3. An eye member for a self threading shuttle comprising a tubular shank having a longitudinal slot therein, .and having a substantially transverse recess connecting With said longitudinal slot and terminating in an eye opposite thereto, said shank having a lip, provided as a part thereof, and in separation from the Wall thereof, adjacent the transverse slot, and overlying and eX- tending therebyond, and the shank having a shoulder slightly separated from the end of the lip whereby between such shoulder and lip end a peripheral thread-guiding channel is produced.

4. An eye member for a shuttle, a tubular shank having a longitudinal slot therein open to one end thereof and having a substantially transverse recess connecting With said longitudinal slot and terminating in an eye opposite thereto, the side Wall kof the shank at the intersection of the longitudinal slot and transverse recess being obliquely inclined toward the open end of the eye member, and said shank having a lip, provided as a part thereof, and in separation from the Wall thereof, adjacent the transverse slot, and overlying and extending therebeyond.

5. An eye member for a self threading shuttle comprising a tubular shank having a longitudinal slot therein, having a substantially transverse recess connecting with said longitudinal slot and terminating in an eye opposite thereto, said shank having a lip, in separation from its Wall, adjacent the transverse slot, and overlying and extending longitudinally therebeyond, and said member also having an endvviselocated head provided With a longitudinal rib, and having a cavity in its end.

Signed by me at Springfield, Mass., in presence of tvvo subscribing Witnesses..

WALTER LABONT.

Witnesses:

WM. S. BELLoWs, W. A. STANNARD.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for ive cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents,

Washington, D. C. 

